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The Voice of Seguin Today
Volume 55, Number 100
830-379-2234
Warehouse Seguin changes its mind about closing its downtown operation Bar owner, city of Seguin reach a consensus, find new ways of doing things By Cindy Aguirre-Herrera (Seguin) – Plenty of compromise and maybe even new ways of doing things in the city of Seguin has led one local business and property owner to change his mind about closing a downtown bar. It was the end of April when Alfredo Leos, owner of the Warehouse, officially announced on social media that he was going to permanently close down the bar and grill located on South Austin Street. When questioned about his decision, Leos at the time told the Seguin Daily News that a tug of war of sorts had reportedly occurred between Leos and the city of Seguin. Leos says the closure announcement was strictly tied to a city issue, and not because of COVID-19 or any other economic reason. Instead, he says the shutting down of the local bar was simply the waving of a white flag - a surrender to years of what he believes have been unfair practices by those in the city’s building and codes department. That all happened three weeks ago, but Leos says things have changed. He now says that he has had a change of heart, because of an agreement reached with the city of Seguin. The decision to reopen occurred in perfect timing with other bars that are now allowed to operate under the Phase II orders, as listed in Governor Greg Abbott’s Open Texas Plan. As for those initial concerns with the city, Leos says many times during the renovation of buildings, he’d end up paying more for changes that “all of a
sudden” were required in order to meet remember agreeing to that. Those were the code. problems that I was having,” said Leos. “One thing, we discussed is more detailed plans where the city is actually looking over everything before you start a project instead of after you start it and then come back with a lot of different changes. Some of the concerns that I had were doing some apartments that I was doing upstairs and then me getting the permits in hand and they were approved under what I turned in but then after the fact, they wanted some additional things which you are talking about over $50,000 worth of changes – really probably closer to maybe $100,000 worth of changes but you are looking at a project that at least up front, you know if you are going to spend another $50,000 to $100,000 versus going 50 percent in already for the project and then all of a sudden finding out at the end ‘hey, we are going to need you to do additional items.’ I guess it’s the way that they are going to handle submitting plans, making sure that everything is figured out beforehand because that is something that we do. We sit down and everybody agrees, and everybody talks about what the project is going to be. Right now since there is not a lot of detail, that they are requiring – when you talk to them in person and they agree to it and they say ‘yes you can do that, you can do that – it’s almost like someone either needs to be taking notes so that everybody can handout and everybody signs off on. It’s things that were slipping through I guess the cracks. Like yes, you can do it this way and when you start the project and they come back and they are like we don’t remember that or we don’t
Leos also admits that at the time, there were just too many headaches and even personal conflicts with a city employee who helped make his decision easier. "There was a lot of things that were said that they wanted me to do and I've been doing this for a longtime, rebuilding buildings and stuff that I own and I have a construction company as well and whenever I ask 'why is it that I'm having to do this? It's not per code,' and I'm being told "because I said so and I can make you do it." At that point, I finally said enough is enough," said Leos. Leos says what many people didn’t know was that he was also considering shutting down and walking away from others properties that he also owns in downtown Seguin. Properties include those that house the Traveling Gypsy antique store and The SOL Venue. He's also currently renovating the former Hot Spot building on Court Street and is constructing five apartments above a current property. Responding to Leos' claims is City Manager Steve Parker. Parker says after hearing the news about the Warehouse, he personally reached out to Leos. Parker says when it comes improving the city, there are definite standards that must be met in order to safely reconstruct and build in the city of Seguin, especially when dealing with some very historic properties. See DOWNTOWN, page 3
Wayne Looff 210-862-4888
Courtesy photo Warehouse FB Page